Saving Seafood

Atlantic Capes, Northern Wind, Don’s Gulf lead launch of new Mexican bay scallop FIP

December 6, 2019 — Three companies involved in the Mexican bay scallop fishery have launched a collaborative effort to create a fishery improvement project (FIP) in the hopes of securing Marine Stewardship Council certification of the fishery.

Atlantic Capes Fisheries, of Fall River, Massachusetts, U.S.A., Northern Wind of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Don’s Gulf Select of Louisiana have announced a joint FIP to bring the fishery into line with international standards and move toward MSC certification.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Science Café talking sea life and climate change

November 29, 2019 — The next New Bedford Science Café will examine how the changing climate affects marine life.

During “Changing Oceans, Moving Fish: How Can the Science that Informs Fisheries Management Keep Up?” science café guests will be three marine scientists, Mitchelle Agonsi, Ashleigh Novak, and Amanda Hart, graduate students and researchers from UMass-Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science & Technology (SMAST).

Science Café will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at Greasy Luck Brewpub, 791 Purchase St., New Bedford. The event is open to everyone.

The public is invited to come a little early at 5:45 p.m. for the first annual holiday BioMixology Party. Celebrate science and mix-and-mingle with other Science Café goers. Cash bar, free appetizers.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Vineyard Wind supports potential onshore facilities

November 29, 2019 — Vineyard Wind will provide agencies in New Bedford and Fall River with $50,000 apiece with an eye toward developing property to support land-based operations for the offshore wind industry.

The company has announced a grant to the New Bedford Port Authority to develop publicly owned port facilities. The grant would go toward consultants for engineering studies on ways to develop the city’s waterfront.

Vineyard Wind also will provide the Fall River Redevelopment Authority with money as part of an agreement to prepare an analysis of potential uses of a parcel that lies within the city’s Water Urban Renewal Plan area and to redevelop a pier.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

‘Past point of no return’: Lone fisherman who survived shipwreck off Martha’s Vineyard recalls harrowing ordeal

November 29, 2019 — A fisherman who survived a shipwreck off Martha’s Vineyard spoke Tuesday from his hospital bed about the harrowing ordeal, one day after the United States Coast Guard suspended its search for three of his fellow crewmates.

Ernesto Garcia, 50, was aboard the Leonardo — a 56-foot scallop boat — that capsized and sank on Sunday afternoon as nine-foot swells and gusty winds battered the area. He was later rescued by a helicopter crew.

“We caught a rogue sea,” Garcia told 7’s Jonathan Hall. “A wave came across in the opposite direction in which the waves were running.”

Garcia says the boat was equipped with a device that automatically sends an emergency distress signal when it strikes the water but that three survival suits onboard sunk with the boat.

“We had no time. Half the port side of the boat was down in the water,” Garcia recalled. “We were past the point of no return.”

Crewmate Mark Cormier, 35, was with Garcia when the wave hit.

“The boat took a nice roll and flipped,” Garcia said. “He [Cormier] broke away from me and I ended up in some kind of air pocket.”

Read the full story at WHDH

Lone survivor recalls scallop boat sinking

November 29, 2019 — Three Fishermen were killed at sea this week in a tragedy that will be long remembered by their families and others in New Bedford.

A fourth man survived, and told his harrowing tale to WHDH reporter Jonathan Hall, who interviewed him in his hospital room where he was recovering from hypothermia.

“We took one over the stern,” said 50-year-old Ernesto Garcia, recounting how a “rogue sea” – a big wave moving in a different direction from the others – capsized the 56-foot F/V Leonardo during rough weather on Sunday.

Garcia described how he and his crewmate, 35-year-old Mark Cormier Jr., were plunged into the chilly water. Garcia swam up towards the light, and reached the surface where he found a floatation ring. He and Cormier held onto the ring and swam towards a life raft, but after about 20 minutes Cormier was “face down in the water” and he slipped off the ring, Garcia said.

A signal from the overturned scallop boat had alerted the Coast Guard, and Garcia was pulled out of the water by a helicopter with the help of a rescue swimmer.

The loss is compounded for the family of the boat’s skipper, 51-year-old Jerry Bretal and his 29-year-old stepson Xavier Vega. Those two were near the bridge of the vessel went it went over, according to Garcia, who believes they may still be inside the Leonardo, on the seafloor 250 feet below the surface.

Read the full story at CommonWealth Magazine

Carlos Rafael Inks $25 Million Deal with Blue Harvest Fisheries

November 29, 2019 — The highly-anticipated forced sell-off of “Codfather” Carlos Rafael’s fishing fleet appears to be near completion, only months after the convicted criminal unloaded his scallop boats.

Undercurrent News reports that Blue Harvest Fisheries has inked a $25 million deal to buy at least 35 vessels and skiffs from Rafael along with their permits and fishing quotas. Blue Harvest maintains fleets in Fairhaven and in Newport News, Virginia. It is backed by Bregal Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm.

The pending deal with Blue Harvest – which still must survive a “right of first refusal” where other harvesters could step forward – comes as Rafael remains behind bars.

Rafael was arrested in 2016 following a federal sting, and was convicted on 28 criminal counts in 2017. Rafael admitted to raking in illegal profits and gaming the system by mislabeling 700,000 pounds of harvested fish over four years. He also illegally avoided paying taxes. Rafael was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. To settle a separate civil suit with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, he was forced to sell his fishing fleet, pay $3 million in penalties, and never engage in the world of commercial fishing again.

Read the full story at WBSM

BARRY RICHARD: New Bedford Boat Sinking A Holiday Heartbreaker

November 26, 2019 — As I write this, the U.S. Cost Guard continues to search for three men who were lost at sea when the New Bedford-based F/V Leonardo went missing during the storm on Sunday. The Coast Guard says the vessel capsized in nine-foot seas with 29-knot winds gusting to 39 knots. The F/V Leonardo met its fate some 24 nautical miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard or roughly 40 miles from home.

One man was rescued from a liferaft. The three missing men were not believed to be wearing survival suits of lifejackets.

The West Island Weather Station reports: “The 56.6-foot New Bedford scalloper F/V Leonardo is registered to Mary Lou Fishing Corp at 17 Bertrand Way, Acushnet. The 50-ton scalloper was built in 1967, according to Boat Database. The corporation is registered to Luis Martins.”

November is a rough month for the New Bedford fishing fleet. According to the website Lost Fishermen From The Port of New Bedford, the F/V Leonardo is the seventh vessel lost to the sea during November since 1919. November weather can be cruel and is often merciless.

Read the full story at WBSM

MASSACHUSETTES: Port of New Bedford gets $50,000 from Vineyard Wind

November 26, 2019 — The New Bedford Port Authority has received $50,000 from Vineyard Wind to help ready the port for offshore wind.

Port officials have heard that an additional 50 vessels could be coming in and out of the harbor each day during construction of the wind farm, according to Edward Anthes-Washburn, Port Authority executive director. He said the port will use the money to help identify ways to accommodate more boats, determine what new infrastructure might be needed, and figure out how the port can leverage its existing infrastructure to take advantage of the opportunity.

“We appreciate the partnership with Vineyard Wind,” he said in an interview.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times 

Blue Harvest inks deal to acquire 35 Rafael groundfish vessels for $25m

November 26, 2019 — One of the most anticipated forced sell-offs in the history of US commercial fishing – the unloading of Carlos Rafael’s fleet in New Bedford, Massachusetts — looks to be on the verge of completion.

Blue Harvest Fisheries, a US scallop and groundfish supplier backed by New York City-based private equity Bregal Partners, has signed a purchase agreement to buy at least 35 vessels and skiffs and all of their associated permits from Carlos Rafael for nearly $25 million, documents obtained by Undercurrent News confirm.

The deal includes millions of pounds of quota for at least eight types of fish in the Northeast multispecies fishery, including cod, haddock, American plaice, witch flounder, yellowtail flounder, redfish, white hake, and pollock.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Lund’s lands New Bedford scallop processing facility, closes frozen office

November 22, 2019 — Lund’s Fisheries has added a new piece to its growing Atlantic scallop puzzle in US fishing hub New Bedford, Massachusetts, acquiring JT Sea Products from its founder along with its processing facility, the company has confirmed with Undercurrent News.

Cape May, New Jersey-based Lund’s has been, for the past few years, building scallop sales to match the size of its dominating squid business. Though he declined to provide annual revenue figures, Lund’s president Jeff Reichle told Undercurrent in an earlier interview that scallops have already gone from representing between 5% and 10% of his 64-year-old company’s sales three or four years ago to as much as 40%.

At least seven of Lund’s 19 vessels are equipped with scallop permits, and other scallop owner-operator vessels have been working out of Lund’s facilities for the past 20 or 30 years, he said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News